


don't go into the woods

by Anonymous



Series: free pickings [6]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Gen, Hiking, Mild Gore, dark sides are ghosts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:01:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25971784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Vacation can get boring if you don't do things.
Relationships: Creativity | Roman Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: free pickings [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2048507
Comments: 10
Kudos: 23
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Chapter 1

"I am so bored!" Roman exclaimed, throwing his hands un in the air above him. He was lying diagonally across Patton's bed, staring at Logan and Patton upside-down. "We should go _do_ something."

"If you have an idea, say it." Logan said, adjusting the tightness of a screw in his homemade rocket.

"Ugh." Roman grunted, letting his arms flop down haphazardly. "No ideas. Head empty."

Logan sighed at him.

"We could go to the pound again!" Patton offered, handing Logan a smaller screwdriver. Logan nodded his appreciation at him.

"No, we got banned, remember?" Roman said.

"They didn't appreciate you trying to steal the animals." Logan added.

"It's not my fault they were all so darn cute!"

"It is your fault that you tried to steal them."

"What if we went to the pool?" Roman suggested.

"After last time kiddo? You almost drowned."

"Oh, that was not fun."

"I don't see what's wrong with what we're currently doing." Logan said.

"Boo, extra boring."

"Hey, I know!" Patton said with a grin. "We should go hiking! There would be lots to explore. Maybe we'd find fairies or something!"

"Let's do it!"

"We don't know anything about hiking, and fairies don't exist."

"Party pooper."

\----

Hiking wasn't so bad, Logan decided. The surroundings were beautiful, their trail was peaceful, and he enjoyed the physical exertion. They took an easier trail, something Roman had found while they were researching. Once they got to the end of the track, they were going to have a picnic, something Patton insisted on.

The only complaint Logan had was that sometimes he could have sworn there was someone watching him.

Roman and Patton were playing a game as they walked, something like bingo and eye-spy, and their happy chatter calmed Logan. He made a note to urge them to go hiking more often, perhaps on a different trail where Logan wouldn't spend his time looking around for people who weren't there.

"Oh, look." Patton said, "The trail splits here."

Logan walked up until he could see what Patton was talking about, a furrow to his brow. "The map I have doesn't say anything about a split,"

"Where does your map say to go, mapster?" Roman asked.

"It doesn't. There shouldn't be an extra path."

"Oooh, we get to choose!" Patton cheered.

"That would be inadvisable." Logan said, adjusting his glasses and pulling out the map, just to check it again.

"We should go right," Roman said. "That's always the right way!"

The area went cold. Every sound stopped, leaving a deafening silence.

Patton grabbed at Roman and Logan's arms. Logan was faintly grateful.

" _Go home._ "

The voice seemed to echo in the silence, rasping, demonic, and forceful. Logan looked around for the source, his heart racing. His own voice died in his throat.

"Uh." Roman said, fear pitched him far higher than usual. "We'll go. We're going, have a good day."

Patton nodded emphatically, his grip tightening around Logan's arm.

As much as Logan was curious about the voice, his survival instinct kicked in and he took a step backwards. He pulled Patton along with him, and Roman through Patton. As soon as they had turned away from the fork in the trail, the oppressive cold disappeared and the ambient sounds returned.

Patton didn't let go of his arm.

The three of them remained silent as they walked. The eyes watching them never left.

Logan cleared his throat, his burning curiosity getting the better of him. "Who might you be?"

The reply of child-like giggles from an entirely different voice sent shivers down Logan's spine.

Patton squeezed his arm. Logan couldn't tell if it was a reprimand or sympathy for the failed attempt to understand.

The silence was getting to Patton and Roman, Logan could tell. He placed a hand over Patton's, trying to comfort his friend.

"Do you..." Roman said. "Do you often do this?"

There wasn't a reply.

The trail was just as beautiful as it had been previously, but it felt different now that Logan knew they were being followed.

"Wait." The voice said, still raspy, but this time it wasn't demonic. Just desperate. "Oh god, oh god."

The three of them froze.

"Is... something wrong, kiddo?" Patton whispered.

A whimper from the younger voice answered him.

"Hide." A new voice said. "Get off the trail."

Roman pulled them off the trail, between trees and behind bushes. The eyes never left them. Logan noticed that Roman seemed to be trying to take them in the direction of the beginning of the trail after they had been stumbling off the trail for a while. Logan wondered if they had gone far enough away from the original trail for the voices.

Boisterous laughter ahead of them froze them in their tracks. It sounded like adults, deep and mean, like they'd been laughing at the expense of someone.

"Duck." One of the voices following them hissed quietly. "Get down."

The three of them didn't hesitate to do so.

The group of adults came into sight on the trail. A couple of them were pushing around a younger man. The man snarled at them, much to the amusement of the rest of the adults. They were too far away to hear what they were saying, but Logan had a bad feeling about them. Patton seemed to be thinking the same, as his grip tightened on Logan's arm again. Logan was sure he was going to have a bruise there.

"Can I go look?" The young voice whispered loudly. "Janny, can I go look?"

"No." The voice that told them to hide said quietly. "Not yet."

The cold came back slowly, causing the three of them to start shivering. The adults were getting closer, and the closer they came the colder it was. The three of them started leaning in to each other, attempting to preserve body heat.

"Stop that." Janny hissed.

"Stop what?" Roman whispered through chattering teeth.

The cold seemed to disappear in an instant. " _Sorry—_ "

Laughter was louder now. "Aww, daddy issues?"

The young man being pushed around sneered at the person who'd asked the question. "Not nearly as many issues as you, hon."

"Ha! The mouth on you."

"How do you think he'll die?" The young voice asked.

Logan looked away from the approaching group to look around for the voices again, horrified by the implications of that sentence.

"Shh," Janny hushed.

"All bark and no bite," a man shouted gleefully. "You're perfect."

"I think you'd benefit from a long walk off a short pier," the young man said.

Logan and his friends remained silent as the group made their way past. The young man fought them all the way, getting progressively twitchy, looking around for escape.

When the group passed the spot where they were hidden, Logan noticed the adults all carried weapons. Suddenly, he wasn't so scared of the voices.

\----

The adults were long gone and Logan couldn't stop himself from asking questions anymore. "Who are you? What are you? How did you know about those... adults."

"I'm Remus, I'm seven, and I'm a ghost! How did you think we knew about them, dummy?"

Patton gasped in horror and Logan spun to where the voice had spoken from. Standing beside them was a small child grinning at them, missing a tooth and covered in blood from what Logan assumed was a bullet wound to the head. Roman made a wheezing sound and pushed them all back away from the kid.

"Remus." Janny scolded, taking form beside the child. His back was to them, and there weren't any visible wounds like Remus'. Janny placed a hand on Remus' shoulder and glanced at Logan and his friends before they vanished again. Logan breathed out shakily.

"Ghosts." Roman whispered.

Logan couldn't even deny that they had just borne witness to ghosts, and that was not how he had wanted to spend this day.

"Um," Patton said, his voice high, fearful, and stressed. "Could you please. Lead, um. Lead us out of here?"

"I suppose," Janny said blandly.

"Janus." The last voice whispered harshly. It sent a cold breeze through the trees.

"Follow us!" Remus shouted.

Patton winced, tugging at Logan's arm as he looked in the direction that the adults had gone.

Roman cleared his voice when it became apparent that nothing was happening. "We can't... see you?"

" _Janus_ ,"

" _Virgil_ ," Janus mimicked. He appeared in front of them again, walking away from them, head pointed toward the air where Logan assumed the third voice—Virgil—was. Remus appeared a second later, skipping around Janus and making faces at Logan and his friends.

Logan and Roman didn't hesitate to follow Janus. They pulled Patton along, who was trying to sing 'My Favourite Things' to calm himself down.

"What are you singing?" Remus asked, running up and walking backwards right in front of Patton.

"I, um." Patton stammered, looking anywhere but at the kids' face.

"Remus," Logan said. He paused when he caught Remus' attention, and resolutely stared at his eyes. "Do you know if everybody becomes a ghost when they die?"

Remus moved to walk backwards in front of Logan instead, looking thoughtful. "Nah, I think we stuck around because this place is haunted and doesn't want the bad guys here anymore."

Logan made a noise of interest. "You said that like this track was haunted before you arrived here. Are there more ghosts than the three of you?"

"It's just us! Janny's been here longest, but." Remus stopped walking and Logan awkwardly tried to dodge him, but his arm phased through Remus' and the sensation was like having all of the blood in his arm freeze. "Hee hee, butt!"

Patton and Roman gave him concerned looks, but Logan brushed them off.

"Remus," Janus called, having stopped a far distance ahead of them. He didn't turn around. "I think there's a dead rabbit here."

"REALLY!" Remus screamed, and ran in the direction of Janus. Patton whimpered.

"Shh!" Virgil said. "Remus, shush!"

"But Virgil!"

"We'll..." Roman said, looking back. "We'll get out of here right? Go to the police and rescue that guy?"

"Y-yeah." Patton whispered. "We can do, we can do that."


	2. Chapter 2

The ghosts didn't lead them back to the path, which Patton was fine with. Less chance of meeting those horrible people if they stayed away. Janus led the way and Remus bounced between Janus and Patton's group, happily chatting with everyone about anything. Patton couldn't help but look at the wound in his head and shudder. 

Patton hadn't let go of his friends either. Every so often, Roman would bump into him and give him a reassuring smile, but they were being led out of a hiking trail by _ghosts_ and had maybe watched a man get kidnapped, so there really wasn't anything reassuring about their situation. 

"What kind of people were those, do you know?" Logan asked. 

Patton stared at him incredulously. Who asked that of people who had probably been killed by the same group?

"Horrible ones." Virgil said, surprisingly close to them. "The kind that don't care about people." 

Patton winced at that. "I'm sorry," 

"Why?" Janus asked, having been listening in on their conversation. "You aren't with them. Why would you need to be sorry?" 

"I... don't know?"

"Wait!" Roman whisper shouted, grabbing hold of Patton's arm. "They would have seen the car we took here!" 

"Oh." Patton said faintly. 

"That... is very astute of you, Roman." 

"Are we stuck here?" Roman asked. "Are they going to hunt us down?" 

"No—"

"There's a possibility," Janus said. Remus was nodding emphatically beside him. 

Patton felt all the blood drain from his face. 

"I don't like it when they hunt people," Remus said, grabbing Janus' hand and swinging it back and forth. "But last time it happened Janny joined us!" 

"We need to move faster." Virgil cut in. "If they already know you're here then we need to get you out, _now._ "

There weren't any arguments. Patton found himself pulling his friends along with the speed he tried to walk at, but neither of them said anything about his grip. 

"Hey, look!" Remus called after a while of silence, "It's their car!" 

They walked up until they were standing next to Janus and Remus, looking out to the outcrop where their car was parked. 

The tires were slashed. 

"Oh no," Patton said to himself, "oh no, oh no," 

"Okay," Logan whispered. He cleared his throat. "We should have better reception here, we can call for help." 

Roman already had his phone out. 

"We should hide you." Janus said, turning away from them. 

"I wanna hide too!" 

"Hide them where, Janus?" Virgil snapped. "They hunt animals for a living." 

"I don't know." Janus hissed. "It's better than having them out in the open." 

"Hello?" Roman said. Patton sighed in relief. 

"Yes, my friends and I were hiking, but we've come back to our car to find the tires have been slashed?" 

"Tell them about the people," Patton urged. 

Roman waved at Patton and hummed at whatever the person on the other line said. 

"A question, Virgil," Logan said. "You appear to have powers to make things cold. Is this a common power amongst the dead?" 

"Um." 

"Logan!" Patton scolded.

"I could do the cold stuff before I died, so. I don't think so." Virgil replied awkwardly. 

"Oh, I don't know. Um, Patton, Logan, did either of you see if any of those guys had a dog with them?" 

Patton shook his head. 

"They do have a dog!" Remus said happily. "It has huuuge teeth! It only listens to the big guy though." 

"... Thank you." Roman nodded to Remus. "That's a yes on the dog." 

"You had powers before you died?" 

Patton elbowed Logan in the ribs. 

"Yeah. Just a thing my family could do." 

Janus sighed. "It doesn't make sense. People can't just do magic." 

"Well, mine could." 

"Were you the first ghost here?" 

Patton gave up trying to stop Logan from insulting ghosts. 

"Does that mean you caused the other two to become ghosts?" Logan continued, irreverently. 

"Probably not." 

"Oh." Roman said strongly enough to make the others pay attention to him again. " _Oh_. Um. No? We're just in the trees a little? Should we climb them?" 

"Roman?"

"Yeah, I mean yes. Thank you." Roman said, then hung up. "The police are coming because apparently we've run into a hunting gang that have been murdering people and disappearing after!" 

"Oh, good," Logan said faintly. 

"Not good!" Patton squeaked. "What are we supposed to do?" 

"We'll keep you safe!" Remus said, getting in Patton's face and not helping him at all. "Then you can go home and tell lots of cool stories!" 

"Thank you." Logan told him. 

Remus grinned at them. Janus turned to face them for the first time, revealing that half of his face had been torn apart. Patton pulled his hand away from Logan to clamp his hand over his mouth. 

"I would appreciate it if you could find my family and tell them what happened to me." 

"Okay," Roman agreed, about five octaves higher. 

Janus disappeared in the next second. 

Logan cleared his throat three times and adjusted his glasses twice. He was pale and Patton wondered if he was about to faint. 

"What's your name? And who would we be looking for?" 

"Janus White." the disembodied voice said. "You could find my father at any theatre, being disappointed by everyone." 

"The _Critic?_ " Roman asked. "He hasn't been around for—oh." 

"Shh." Virgil said. "I think I hear someone coming." 

"But that's cool that you guys get to live!" Remus said, bouncing on his toes. "Eat some mud for me when you get home!" 

"Remus, shh."

Remus pouted at the air. 

Patton held on to Roman and wished the day would end quicker.


End file.
